132 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. IX— B. S, 
mosquito curtain, which, once incautiously lifted, let 
in regular swarms of minute tormentors, too swift to 
catch, and yet too tantalizing to he ignored. Then 
that horrid river San Juan, with its rank vegetation 
and fever-breathing swamps; and, above all, those 
frightful creatures, the alligators! Who could look 
at them without a shudder ? Why couldn’t the go¬ 
vernment of the country order the instant and total 
destruction of these monsters ? How could they ever 
expect well-brought-up white people to come to Ni¬ 
caragua, when at the very gates they were frightened 
out of their wits by such things as those ? She felt 
quite relieved when landing at San Ubaldo, after 
crossing Lake Nicaragua in a steamer, which might 
he rendered ten times more comfortable, and should 
he more comfortable if the steamboat company ever 
expected people to take a pleasure trip in them. 
She now hoped to have a fine gallop over the plains. 
But oh! what a misnomer to call a continued mud- 
flat, varied only by deep holes of dirty water, a plain ! 
What must geographers have been thinking about 
when applying that term to what in other countries 
would simply be a swamp ? She had been some 
days on the road from the Lake to the mines, 
and not been able even to trot, let alone gallop. 
However, she consoled herself that on arriving at some 
town or other she would have at least a good night’s 
rest; but in this she was disappointed. Arrived at 
Acoyapa, she was put into an open shed, and had not 
a wink of sleep. Insisting upon having a lamp burning 
at night, all animal creation in and about the premises 
